Blixhavn is back at this week’s Scotties in Killarney

Local curler Lisa Blixhavn to play lead on Team JCR

BY KIM LANGEN

She’s calling them the “home team,” and they are ready to rock at this week’s Scotties.

Local star curler Lisa Blixhavn has been enlisted by the Jennifer Clark-Rouire team, and says they are setting their sights on winning during the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, being held here in Killarney from Wednesday to Sunday at the Shamrock Centre.

“I am registered as their fifth, and I will definitely be playing three games this week,” said Blixhavn, a middle years teacher at Killarney School. “I’m playing Thursday at noon, and the evening draw, at around 7 p.m., and again on Friday morning at 8:30 a.m.”

And the Friday morning event is drawing in some very special spectators to the massive event.

“My husband Jeff will be bringing the kids in on Friday morning,” said Blixhavn. “They are seven and four years old, and they have never seen me curl.”

In addition, an entire primary class may also be positioned nearby, wiggling excitedly in their seats as they watch Mrs. Blixhavn haul some granite across the ice.

“I’ve heard that Mrs. Lisa Shiels is bringing her class down for the game,” said Blixhavn.

In fact, Blixhavn skipped her own rink in the last Scotties held in Killarney, back in 2010, when she was a very fulsome six months pregnant.

“Our rink finished with a 5-2 record,” she said. “I was huge. He was a very big baby.”

Blixhavn has been balancing a very full life for years, and just completed her master’s degree in special education this past summer.

She’s also been playing in Killarney with the Invigor Competitive Curling League every season, with skip Neil Bugg, she said.

And when she got the call to join in with a top team this fall, she leapt at the chance.

“The coach of the team is a Clearwater resident, and knew I would be available, and interested, and a good fit,” said Blixhavn. “I was very glad to be asked. For these girls to bring this opportunity to me was wonderful. And I jumped at it. I have been spending time with them, along with three weekends of curling, plus two bonspiels. I am a full member of this group. They are four great girls.”

Blixhavn has been spending months honing her skills and building strength, in preparation for this week’s challenges on the local ice.

“I am excited,” she said. “We are the home town team, and we are ready to win. I am physically ready to do it. I’m looking forward to playing lead for the team, which is something I have never done before.”

The Jennifer Clark-Rouire rink will be posting all this week on both their Twitter and Facebook accounts, and you can go there to hear all the news, as it happens. Find them at: @TeamJCR_Curling (Twitter) and at TEAMJCR (Facebook).

BACK AT THE SCOTTIES – Killarney’s Lisa Blixhavn, seen here at the 2010 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts in the Shamrock Centre, is back for another hometown Scotties experience. This time around she’ll be the fifth on the Jennifer Clark-Rouire (JCR) rink. “With Killarney resident Lisa Blixhavn as the team alternate, and Clearwater native Lyall Hudson as coach, this team boasts over 100 years of curling experience, over a dozen MB titles, various MCT titles, bonspiel wins, Canada cup appearances, and Olympic trials experience,” says Team JCR’s bio page.